NASCAR turned in an excellent viewership number for the race at Phoenix this weekend at the Cup Series level. According to FOX Sports PR, viewership was up 19% over the average FS1 broadcast from a year ago.

The Straight Talk Wireless 500 drew 2.841 million viewers. That was up from 2.818 million last year, an increase of about 1%. This year’s race peaked at 3.516 million viewers from 7 to 7:15 p.m. ET.

The race, which was broadcast on FS1, drew the biggest viewership for FS1 since the FS1 portion of the ALCS Game 7 simulcast.

Daytona draws increased ratings

The 2026 Daytona 500 has come and gone, and FOX released the viewer ratings for the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series season. The race had 7.489 million viewers, an 11% jump from last year (6.761 million).

This year’s Daytona 500 peaked at 9.154 million viewers on FOX from 5:30 – 5:45 p.m. ET. It was also the most-watched Great American Race since 2023 (8.173 million).

NASCAR fans witnessed a wild finish at this year’s Daytona 500. The final lap featured two wrecks, and Tyler Reddick crossed the finish line first despite not leading a single lap during the race. But while the Daytona 500 delivered excellent ratings, subsequent ratings have been more mixed.

Atlanta draws decreased figure

NASCAR fans have quickly gravitated to Atlanta as one of the most compelling tracks on the circuit, but that didn’t necessarily translate to higher viewership. At least not this year.

According to a report from Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, FOX averaged 4.487 million viewers for this year’s Cup Series race at Atlanta on Sunday. That was down about 2% from last year’s 4.586 million.

Of course, there were some difficult circumstances this time around. The FOX NASCAR broadcast window had to compete with the NBC closing ceremonies for the Olympics in the early portions of the broadcast, potentially siphoning off some viewers.

The USA hockey gold medal game against Canada being in the early morning also likely changed some viewing plans for sports fans during the day.

COTA also deals with challenging backdrop

After COTA, for the second straight week, NASCAR viewership was slightly down compared to 2025 numbers. However, for the second straight week there were some challenging circumstances that the sport had to contend with.

According to a report from Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, FOX drew 3.933 million viewers for Sunday’s Cup Series race at COTA. That was down about 4.8% from last year’s number of 4.132 million.

It comes on the heels of the race at Atlanta drawing about 2.0% fewer viewers than a year prior. However, as noted, there were some challenging circumstances.

Stern notes that due to the war in the Middle East, cable news TV viewership was up 64% week over week during the race. That likely siphoned some viewers off the FOX broadcast.